Hidden History: This nonbinary minister was a hero of the American Revolution

In October 1776, Jemima Wilkinson nearly died in Cumberland, Rhode Island, and Public Universal Friend claimed her body was reanimated with a new spirit. Universal Friend gathered followers into the Society of Universal Friends during the American Revolution, emphasizing total self-determination, equality, piety, and love. Authorities viewed the minister as a threat to male power and control, calling them “the devil in petticoats.” After the war, Universal Friend moved west to build an Eden on the frontier where everyone could pursue life, liberty, happiness, peace, and shared prosperity. The utopia faced financial scams, contested wills, adultery, plagiarism, murder allegations, and renewed tensions with England, requiring continued struggle for salvation and the good of all Americans.

"On the morning of October 10, 1776, a young Quaker woman named Jemima Wilkinson woke up and spoke to the brother sitting bedside. "There is room enough." Jeptha Wilkinson was struck du"

"Over the course of the American Revolution, Universal Friend gathered followers for a sect called the Society of Universal Friends. The young minister seemed to embody the possibilities offered by the revolution, especially the right to total self-determination. Hundreds of men and women from all walks of life joined the growing sect and pledged themselves to ideals of equality, piety, and love."

"To authorities, however, the minister was "the devil in petticoats," a threat to the men who sought to keep America's power for themselves. And so, after the war, Public Universal Friend ventured west to create an Eden on the frontier, a place where, in their vision, everyone would have the right to not only life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but also peace and shared prosperity."

"But into every Eden comes a snake. And soon, financial scams, contested wills, adultery, plagiarism, allegations of murder, and murmurs of another war with England would threaten to destroy this new American utopia, forcing Universal Friend to fight even harder for the mission of salvation and for the good of all Americans."

Read at Advocate.com